fluting a blank?????????

T

tillroot1

Member
I am wondering if its ok to flute a blank after it has been drilled and rifled? Is fluting normaly done before drilling? If its no problem, is there any recomendations on someone that does fluting. thanks, Ron Tilley
 
Barel Blanks

G'day Ron

As far as i know MADDCO Barrels here in Australia flute the barrell after it has been drilled, reamed, rifled and stress relieved, but before the final lapping. Cutting the flutes can cause the bore dia to grow slightly, and can also cause the barrel to warp slightly even after the stress releiving.. I have had 3barrels fluted this way and they have all shot very well.
Fluting ,even if done correctly can still cause warping of the barrel as it heats up during firing. Hence why you don't see to many fluted barrels on pure bench guns..

If your barrell is a medium quality factory barrel ,one that has not been lapped, i would say go for it, you probably won't make any difference to the way it will shoot..
If however it is a high quality match barrel i would not flute it once it has been lapped.

In saying that though if you really wanted the fluted look, (and lets be honest here,we realy only flute barrels for looks:D),cut the flutes only 1/3 depth. This will minimise any effect on the bore and still "LOOK" the buisness..


Cheers
Leeroy
 
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Barrel fluting

Fluting a high quality Shilen barrel will void their warrenty, as stated on their web site. If we're talking about a "utility" barrel, it probably would not matter, since that barrel will have built-in "problems" that fluting will not solve.
 
I've been fluting barrels in house for 12 years now and have never had a problem. In theory it's better to do it before it lapped but the reality is it doesn't make any difference on the target.

Dave
 
I have fluted hundreds of barrels and not seen a single problem, I do stress relive the barrels and I use a vertical mill to do the fluting rather that makes a difference or not I don't know its just how I do it. I haven't seen any problems as to rather they were fluted before being lapped or after.
 
koginam said:
I have fluted hundreds of barrels and not seen a single problem, I do stress relive the barrels and I use a vertical mill to do the fluting rather that makes a difference or not I don't know its just how I do it. I haven't seen any problems as to rather they were fluted before being lapped or after.
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Do you use a rounded end mill for the fluting?
 
Works for me

My fluted sporter class barrel is current national champion here in Australia.

I fluted it a vertical mill with a 1/4" round nose carbide cutter with lots of coolant.

Its the best shooting barrel I have.

Rob Carnell
Sydney, australia
 
The logics; Lapping 0.0002" vs. Fluting 0.1"+

Butch Lambert said:
I guess Skip Otto's .099 group at 200 yds. with a fluted Shilen would have been a .009 if it hadn't been fluted.
Butch
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In the logical way, Because the lapping is the lightest "stress demanding" operation it makes a good sense to perform the lapping last.

Wheather the bore will grow or not if the barrel is flutted is a pure speculation. However the accuracy of the barrel can/will be effected if some imbecile will re-introduce the stress back into the material by incorrect machining practices.

Shoot better
Peter
 
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I flute all of my match grade heavy barrels. It may make a difference in cooling rate. Don't know for sure. I use 8 flutes .250 dia cutter, cutting from the side and backing the barrel with angleblocks. Have never noticed any suffering of accuracy. Besides, they look really COOL.

Don
 
davidshobby
Yes ball end mills size depends on barrel dia. High speed steel or carbide and with lots of coolant, I also have a 1/2 X 2X 30 parallel I made to support the barrel between two indicated vices
 
koginam said:
davidshobby
Yes ball end mills size depends on barrel dia. High speed steel or carbide and with lots of coolant, I also have a 1/2 X 2X 30 parallel I made to support the barrel between two indicated vices
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Thanls. Sombody else said that they do it with a lathe and tool post grinder utilizing stones at high rpm for a very smooth finish. Good to know there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Dave
 
How are they going to dress a radius on the wheel???

Mike Swartz
 
Mike and Butch

It might be BS as I don't know. I asked the question in another place and was told that "most barrels are fluted on a lathe using a tool post grinder & stone at high speed. " I wondered at the time how you would control the wear on the stone and maintain consistency of depth.

Dave
 
Dave Tooley said:
I've been fluting barrels in house for 12 years now and have never had a problem. In theory it's better to do it before it lapped but the reality is it doesn't make any difference on the target.

Dave
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Dave Tooley, Would you be interested in doing it? or would you be able to point me to a direction of someone that would. its a .30 cal Rock Creek blank, 27" long and a m 24 taper. 1.250 for 5" then straight to .900 at 27. This is going in a McMillan A5 and I would like to get the weight down as far as possible.
Thanks to all who took time to post here. Ron Tilley

I tried to access your website with no luck. thanks, Ron Tilley
 
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David if you have done any grinding to speak of you would understand what I am saying. I understand that you are only repeating what you have heard.
The ideal way to flute is on a horizontal mill, next to that would be a horizontal attachment on your vertical mill, and the only other way that I would attempt it would be in the mill with a milling cutter cutting from the side. Lots of coolant with any method that you choose.
Butch
 
I have to say BS as well because of the time it would taks to do the job.
 
I'm with Butch on this one. How do you engage/drive the feed without the spindle turning? On my lathes, when the spindle stops turning , everything stops turning. There are automatic grinders out there that would do the job but not a lathe. Remington grinds the flats on their 3 sided barrels.

Dave
 
Dave Tooley said:
I'm with Butch on this one. How do you engage/drive the feed without the spindle turning? On my lathes, when the spindle stops turning , everything stops turning. There are automatic grinders out there that would do the job but not a lathe. Remington grinds the flats on their 3 sided barrels.

Dave
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Dave

In one of the lathe forums that I visit there is a thread talking about making an indexing set up for a lathe. I would suspect that this is what is used for the tool post method. The lathe spindle is locked and indexed by the index plate made for the lathe spindle and the lathe carriage is what moves back and forth under operator control.

Thanks for all the responses to my query. Didn't mean to hijack the thread!
 
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